Rui Chang (瑞昌) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Rui Chang as an aristocrat, general, and military officer. This record brings together 20 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Rui Chang	瑞昌	Rui Chang
Posthumous	Loyal and Stalwart	忠壯	Zhongzhuang
Clan	Niohuru	鈕祜祿氏
Personal name	Ruichang	瑞昌	Ruìchāng
Courtesy	Yunge	云閣	Yunge

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0099
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:467:s0002

Roles

Aristocrat
General
Military Officer

Life and dates

Death

Manner: fell in battle / 戰歿 · Place: Heihe / 黑河 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:467:s0165
Manner: self-immolation / 先舉火自焚 · Place: Hangzhou / 杭州 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐十一年 · Western Year: AD 1861
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0123

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:467:s0157, qingshigao:467:s0165
Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0103
Source Date: Text: 咸豐五年 · Western Year: AD 1855
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0106
Source Date: Text: 咸豐十一年 · Western Year: AD 1861
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0118
Source Date: Text: 咸豐十年二月 · Western Year: AD 1860
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0108
Source Date: Text: 咸豐四年 · Western Year: AD 1854
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0105
Source Date: Text: 道光二十九年 · Western Year: AD 1849
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0102

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Descendant of Aode (敖德)
Kinship Term: descendant / 裔 · Generation Distance: 6 · Line: paternal
Kinship Term: ancestor / 祖 · Generation Distance: 6 · Line: paternal
Kin of Shoushan (壽山)
Kinship Term: clansman (junior) / 族孫 · Line: paternal
Spouse of Wu (吳)
Kinship Term: concubine / 妾 · Union Category: concubinage
Kinship Term: husband / 夫 · Union Category: concubinage · Subject Role: husband · Object Role: concubine
Parent of Xuguang (緒光)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 1
Kinship Term: eldest son / 長子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 1
Parent of Xu'en (緒恩)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological
Parent of Xucheng (緒成)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Manchu / 滿洲
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0099

Career and standing

Label: General of Hangzhou / 杭州將軍 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0103
Label: Han Chinese Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Plain White Banner / 正白旗漢軍副都統 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 道光二十九年 · Western Year: AD 1849
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0102
Label: overall commander of Jiangnan armies / 總統江南諸軍 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0115
Label: yellow riding jacket / 黃馬褂 · Action: granted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐十年 · Western Year: AD 1860
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0113
Label: posthumous name Loyal and Stalwart / 諡忠壯 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0124
Label: Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent / 太子太保 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0124
Title: third-rank baronage / 三等子爵 · Action: combined-from-hereditary-offices
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0129
Title: hereditary second-rank Commandant of Light Chariots / 二等輕車都尉世職 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0113
Title: first-class Commandant of Light Chariots / 一等輕車都尉世職 · Action: raised
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0124

Places and affiliations

Organization: Bordered Yellow Banner / 鑲黃旗 · Relation: registered-in
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0099

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: campaigned with Senggelinqin and Shengbao; helped capture Lin Fengxiang · Other Person Id: Sengge Rinchen (僧格林沁) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年至五年 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1853 · End: AD 1855
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0104, qingshigao:398:s0105, qingshigao:398:s0106, qingshigao:398:s0107
Kind: mass-death · Role: leader · Action: garrison self-immolation · Casualties: Count: 4000 · Qualifier: more than · Includes Person Ids: Guan Fu (關福), Hetehna (赫特赫納) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐十一年 · Western Year: AD 1861
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0123
Kind: military · Role: defender · Action: held Hangzhou garrison citadel until relief; recovered Hangzhou · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐十年 · Western Year: AD 1860
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0109, qingshigao:398:s0110, qingshigao:398:s0111, qingshigao:398:s0112, qingshigao:398:s0113
Relation: commander-of · Person Id: Jiang Changgui (江長貴)
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0115

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: roused others by loyalty; city fell with him · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0159

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 398Volume 398 Biographies 185: Zong Shixianghou, Huo Longwu, Fu Zhu Hong A, En Zhang, Chen Shengyuan, Qi Suzao, Chen Kerang, Liu Tongying, Rui Chang, Jie Chun, Xi Ling A · 17 passages

Open chapter

瑞昌杰純錫齡阿 Rui Chang; Jie Chun; Xi Ling'a

瑞昌，字云閣，鈕祜祿氏，滿洲鑲黃旗人。 Rui Chang, courtesy name Yunge, of the Niohuru clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Yellow Banner.

瑞昌由拜唐阿授鑾儀衛整儀尉，累遷冠軍使。 Rui Chang entered service as a baitang'a and was appointed an orderly in the Imperial Procession Guard, rising in time to champion envoy.

賊分股突犯杭州，瑞昌令副都統來存出武林門御之，自守錢塘門，偕巡撫羅遵殿佈置甫定，賊已麕至，縱火撲城。 Rebel columns struck Hangzhou. Rui Chang sent Deputy Commander Laicun out through Wulin Gate to meet them while he held Qiantang Gate himself. He and Governor Luo Zundian had barely finished their dispositions when the rebels swarmed in and set fires along the walls.

瑞昌率旗兵迎擊於湧金門，殺傷相當。 Rui Chang led the banner troops out at Yongjin Gate. Casualties on both sides were heavy.

張玉良以罪黜，命瑞昌總統江南諸軍，江長貴副之，規復甦州，而賊已陷長興、武康，复諭先顧杭城，再圖進取。 Zhang Yuliang was dismissed in disgrace. Rui Chang was placed in overall command of the Jiangnan armies with Jiang Changgui as his deputy, with orders to recover Suzhou. But the rebels had already taken Changxing and Wukang, and he was told to secure Hangzhou first and plan further advances later.

嘉興尋為賊踞，命瑞昌督張玉良往攻，亦未果。 Jiaxing soon fell to the rebels. Rui Chang was ordered to direct Zhang Yuliang in an assault on the city, but the attempt failed.

十月，賊陷富陽、餘杭，复撲杭州，瑞昌親督副都統傑純、副將吳再升擊走之。 In the tenth month the rebels took Fuyang and Yuhang and struck at Hangzhou again. Rui Chang personally directed Deputy Commander Jie Chun and Brigadier Wu Zaisheng in driving them back.

自紹興為賊踞，杭州愈危，遂被圍，瑞昌偕巡撫王有齡嬰城固守逾兩月。 Once Shaoxing fell, Hangzhou grew still more desperate and was besieged. Rui Chang and Governor Wang Youling held the city in a desperate defense for more than two months.

瑞昌憂憤成疾，旗兵精壯多傷亡，乃集將校，誓死報國，家給火藥。 Rui Chang fell ill with grief and rage. Most of the banner garrison's best fighters were dead or wounded. He gathered his officers, swore to die for the dynasty, and distributed gunpowder to every household in the garrison.

及城陷，瑞昌先舉火自焚，闔營次第火起，同死者，杭州副都統關福及江蘇糧儲道赫特赫納以下男婦四千餘人。 When the city fell, Rui Chang was the first to set himself ablaze. Fires rose one after another through the garrison quarter. More than four thousand men and women died with him, including Deputy Commander Guan Fu and Jiangsu grain commissioner Hetehna.

事聞，詔優恤，贈太子太保，晉一等輕車都尉世職，諡忠壯。 When word reached the court, an edict granted enhanced posthumous honors. Rui Chang was made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, his hereditary rank was raised to first-class commandant of light chariots, and he was honored with the posthumous name Loyal and Stalwart.

同治三年，杭州复，左宗棠奏瑞昌妾吳，於城破時挈兩幼子緒成、緒恩出走失散。 In 1864, after Hangzhou was recovered, Zuo Zongtang reported that Rui Chang's concubine Wu had fled the fallen city with two young sons, Xucheng and Xu'en, and been separated from them in the chaos.

詔念瑞昌忠烈，命本旗傳交其長子內閣中書緒光收養，飭宗棠購訪緒成下落，迄未得。 Moved by Rui Chang's martyrdom, the throne ordered his banner to place the boy in the care of his eldest son, Secretariat drafter Xuguang, and instructed Zuo Zongtang to search for Xucheng. He was never found.

忠勇得士心，為瑞昌所倚。 Brave and loyal, he won the soldiers' devotion and became Rui Chang's right hand.

杭州初破，瑞昌欲自剄，傑純與副都統來存言賊以偏師疾至，未有後繼，猶可力保駐防城以待外援，瑞昌從之，乃登陴守禦。 When Hangzhou first fell, Rui Chang meant to take his own life. Jie Chun and Deputy Commander Laicun urged that the rebels had arrived with only a vanguard and no reserves, and that the garrison quarter could still be held until relief came. Rui Chang agreed and took to the ramparts.

杭州初陷，賊僅偏師，故瑞昌能守內城以待援； When Hangzhou first fell, the rebels had sent only a vanguard, so Rui Chang could hold the inner quarter and wait for relief;

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 467Volume 467 Biographies 254: Li Bingheng, Wang Tingxiang, Nie Shicheng, Luo Rongguang, Shou Shan Zu Sun : Rui Chang, Feng Xiang, Chong Yu · 3 passages

Open chapter

李秉衡王廷相聶士成羅榮光壽山族孫瑞昌鳳翔崇玉等 Li Bingheng, Wang Tingxiang, Nie Shicheng, Luo Rongguang, and Shoushan's kinsmen Ruichang, Fengxiang, Chongyu, and others

當是時，諸路軍皆潰敗，北路統領崇玉，營官德春、瑞昌，西路統領保全，東路營官保林，並陷陣死，於是俄遂偪齊齊哈爾省城。 By then every column had been broken; on the north Commander Chongyu and camp officers Dechun and Ruichang, on the west Commander Baoquan, on the east camp officer Baolin—all fell; the Russians then pressed on Qiqihar.

族孫瑞昌，充北路營官，俄陷黑河，與統領崇玉同戰歿。 His clansman Ruichang served as northern-route camp officer; when the Russians took Heihe he died fighting beside Commander Chongyu.